I guess in that case, I probably would have had to buy OMW with AC at the time of purchase, which would have been a problem since I bought my tickets from United and this was sold as a code-share...

OMW is to cover incidents beyond airline control (war, acts of god, weather etc....) airlines are supposed to cover operational stuff... mechanical breakdown and staffing issues are considered airline issue so they should cover u!

u have a better chance of compensation by talking / complaining to the US FAA, because they have a better passenger bill of rights in the US as compared to Canada.......

i understand for more than 3-4 hrs u should get a food coupon

my advice.... sit in lounge, eat more, drink more, surf more web..... and chat up with UA staff and see if they could help u..... cause they helped me re-schd my AC exSFO flight following a snow storm in its departure.... and accomodated me until 2am at their RCC lounge...

if urs a UA (AC metal) codeshare tix, you should have asked UA to accomodate u.... like via LAX, SFO, YYC, PDX, SEA, YEG or something then connect to YVR

good grief....some pax have to calm themselves down..... i dont understand.... sometimes why pple are sooo frustrated for something soo minor distruption in life.....

This is incorrect.

I cut and paste paragraph 2 of the Terms and Conditions of coverage at www.aircanada.ca:

"On My Way provides the services described in these terms and conditions in the event that Air Canada cancels or delays a flight within forty-eight (48) hours of a Customer's scheduled flight, whatever the cause or reason for the flight delay or cancellation ("Flight Cancellation")."

The difference here is, if OP has OMW, he/she could have requested OMW to buy a ticket on another airline leaving earlier than the re-scheduled departure time of he/her delayed AC flight.

He/she also did not have to queue for an AC agent and would have been able to do so over the phone.

He/she would probably be entitled to double meal allowance.

I did ask UA if they could help me out, but they can't do anything unless AC endorses the ticket back over to them. Upon questioning if AC did that, the RCC agent said she didn't have any open flights until the afternoon anyways, and then I would have to catch the 7pm flight to YVR from ORD. Wasn't going to help me either.

And if you are thinking I am stressed out, I am not. I was just frustrated by the lack of help being provided by AC, and wanted to share my story. I was calm the entire time. ^

In summary, as it is a mechanical delay, AC will "take care" of you. However, please take a number and wait for your turn to be called. In the meantime, AC will first take care of those who have bought OMW and have the highest priority.

Apparently, its a myth that AC "has to" endorse the ticket over to UA in order for them to accept it. There was a thread on this in the UA forum a few weeks ago, with employees confirming that, UA, or any airline, really, could choose to take a ticket from another carrier (at least in NA, I think), and submit to ARC for reimbursement from the airline originally scheduled. Of course, that doesn't mean UA "has to" accept the ticket, but they can.

Also, over in teh NW forum, there should be threads on a program they used to have (can't recall what it is called) where they would voluntarily take other airlines tickets, particularly in these kinds of situations, simply as a kind of a marketing program to get a pax to experience NW, and of course, create goodwill with the hope next time they would buy a ticket with them.

Ah yes, the little known but all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful Star Alliance Endorsement Waiver. Problem is that most agents don't know any more about it than most passengers. But here is the relevant section:

i know OMW covers everything - but taken into context of AC's Delay and Cancellation guidelines - mechanical and staffing are considered to be within the airline's control and they are required to compensate u regardless of whether OMW was purchased.

i understand too OMW is a different department / staff that has greater powers to booking AC/other flights...... hmm having said that I rerouted my friend on AC Reservations when she was stuck in SYD because of snowstorms in YVR...... ended up routing her via SYD-NRT-LAX-YYZ with UA no probs and no questions asked... they even bumped her booking class from Q to Y.

hmm i looked into FAA which directed me to DOT on Aviation Consumer Protection policies..... not much help...Suprisingly they say any delays are beyond airline's control (true from an operational sense, but sucks from a pax standpoint)

here's the link http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/publi...ts.htm#delayed

and regarding the airline endorsement to another airline, DOT"s official position is this:

"If you find a flight on another airline, ask the first airline to endorse your ticket to the new carrier; this could save you a fare increase. Remember, however, that there is no rule requiring them to do this. If your flight is canceled, most airlines will rebook you on the first flight of theirs to your destination on which space is available, at no additional charge. If this involves a significant delay find out if another carrier has space, and ask the first airline to endorse your ticket. Finding extra seats may be difficult, however, especially over holidays and other peak travel times."

Well almost a full 12 hours after my flight was scheduled to depart, and I am back at the hotel I woke up at this morning.

To make a long story short, we were waiting for pilot and first officer to come in on a flight from Montreal. That flight got canceled. Then the remaining AC flights into Newark got canceled too. So the plane was still sitting there but noone to fly it.

AC said they spent about an hour trying to a crew that was in NY/NJ to fly but was unsuccessful.

Anyways, a lot of very angry pax who vowed to never fly AC again and demanded to have their tickets moved over to other carriers tonight/tomorrow (probably most for tomorrow). I understand that the final cancellation occurred because of weather but the original problem was mechanical and resulted in a lot of folks being stuck at the airport all day for no reason.

Good on the GAs for not losing their minds.... but it would have been nice if they worked more orderly, for those who just wanted rebookings to get out of there instead of spending copious amounts of time helping those who were causing a scene and asking for the moon.

Anyways, my plane is not supposed to leave until noon tomorrow, and the GAs said that it should be the same plane so hopefully its fixed. I have my doubts that many other planes will make it in tonight because of the storm, and think the first flights out will probably steal our plane if they have a crew.... but thats to worry about tomorrow.

really sucks eh..... ur better off driving up to toronto to catch the flight....8 hrs of beautiful drive!

As what a good Canadian should do

did u say hi to the idiot that cursed and cussed at u @ the line too???

EWR sucks on a clear day. Looks like CNX throughout the NE Friday. Must have been some bad storms
IMO, kinda hard to lay this on AC . . . Their E/C-Jets don't get priority into EWR when vis is limited. Wonder how bad CO was affected today?

BUDDY start screaming get AC to put you on anyones flight Your first flight was a mechanical. AC should have put you on another airline after that, and not made you wait 8 hours.

"On My Way" - Give me $25 and I'll give you with service I should be providing for free!